Terms of Business

The Financial Conduct Authority – The Financial Conduct Authority is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Graham Sykes Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Registration number is 300310 and you can check our status at www.fca.org.uk/register/home.do or by contacting the FCA on 0845 606 1234. Our permitted business includes advising, arranging, dealing in and assisting with the placing and administration and claims handling of all types of General Insurance policies.

We act as an Independent Broker and Adviser on your behalf. We normally select insurance products from a range of Insurers, but for some products we may only deal with a single Insurer or select from a limited range of Insurers. We will advise you if this is the case. Our service includes: advising you on your Insurance needs; arranging your insurance cover with Insurers; helping you with any subsequent alteration to the Insurance which we have placed on your behalf. For Motor Legal Expenses Insurance, Commercial Legal Protection Insurance and Family Legal cover, and in respect of products purchased via our website, we have selected one provider respectively, for their value, service and range of cover. In respect of these policies you will not receive advice or a recommendation from us and you will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.Treating Customers Fairly – is at the heart of our dealings with our customers. We constantly strive to provide the highest quality advice and service and regularly assess all aspects of our business to ensure that they impact positively on our customers.

Personal Insurance Charges – The remuneration we receive for our services is a percentage of the Insurance Premium (known as brokerage or commission). Commission, brokerage and fees are earned for the policy period and we will be entitled to retain all commission, brokerage and fees for the full policy period in respect of any policies which are cancelled mid-term, and where refunds are allowed for reduction in cover. We reserve the right to charge a fee in addition to the Insurance Premium for the arrangement, amendment, renewal or cancellation of any Policy. These fees are in respect of Personal Insurance only and are as follows:

Arranging New Policies

£10

Mid Term Adjustments

£16

Renewals

£6

Mid-term cancellations

£16

Replacement/duplicate certificates or cover notes

£16

Data Protection Personal Data Report

£16

Personal lines/Retail policies cancelled during the ‘Right to Cancel’ period will be subject to an administration charge of £16, in addition to the premium charged by the insurer for the period of cover provided.

Occasionally we may arrange a policy on which we earn no commission (a ‘net-premium policy’) and in these cases we will advise you of the arrangement fee before you take the policy out. Specific charges, which apply to individual policies will be shown on the Initial Disclosure Document applicable to that policy. The specific charge and purpose of any additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.

Prior to the conclusion of each insurance contract, or upon renewal, we will remind you of your right to be advised of the level of commission which we receive from underwriters. You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business.

Commercial Insurance Commission and Charges – Our remuneration is mainly by commission paid by the insurers. However we may offer services which require a higher level of remuneration than the commission which some insurers pay or we may have to place your insurances through an insurer or underwriting agency or Lloyd’s broker who will only pay us a percentage of the insurer’s commission or no commission at all. In such circumstances we reserve the right to make charges in addition to any insurance premiums, for the arranging, amending, renewing and cancellation of any policy of insurance. We will advise you in writing of these charges before you purchase the insurance and the charges will be clearly shown in our letter advising you of the insurer’s terms and on any invoice. Commission, brokerage and fees are earned for the policy period and we will be entitled to retain all commission, brokerage and fees for the full policy period in respect of any policies which are cancelled mid-term.

Information on how we treat Payments You Make to Us– Under the terms of our agreements with the Insurance companies with whom we place business, we normally receive premiums you pay to us as an Agent of the Insurer. All insurance premiums you pay to us are protected in a Non-Statutory Trust Account until we pay insurers. We may use premiums kept in this account to provide credit to our customers, and, as a result we maintain additional capital resources and strict credit-control and monitoring procedures, as required by the FCA. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the course of arranging and administering your insurance.

Non-Statutory Trust – The aim of the trust is to protect the client in the event of the failure of the firm, or the failure of the bank or a third party where the money may be held. In such a circumstance, the firm’s general creditors should not be able to make claims on client money as it will not form part of this firm’s property.

The FCA require that Firms wishing to operate non-statutory trusts have adequate resources and they set a higher capital requirement for the Firm. The FCA also require an independent audit concerning the adequacy of the Firm’s systems and controls. The fact that we will hold money on trust gives rise to fiduciary duties which will be owed to you until the client money reaches the insurer or product provider. We believe this flexibility is in the best interests of our clients. If we do not hear from you to the contrary then we will consider that you are in agreement to us keeping your money in a non-statutory trust.

Complaints – We always endeavour to provide a first class service. However, should you have cause for complaint, you should, in the first instance, contact us by telephone 0845 1300 236, by fax 0845 1300 263 or in writing to the following address:
The Complaints Manager, Graham Sykes Ltd., 37 Rolle Street, Exmouth, Devon. EX8 2SN, or by email to complaints@graham- sykes.co.uk.

We will provide you with a copy of our full complaints procedure and respond to you promptly. We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint and aim to make a final response within eight weeks, or keep you informed as to why this is not possible. In the event that your complaint relates to activities or services provided by another party, we will ensure that your complaint is appropriately forwarded in writing, and will track the progress of the complaint and responses of that party.

After our final response has been issued, if you still cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent assessment and opinion. The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0845 080 1800 and their address is: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) – We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS (http:/www.fscs.org.uk).

Right to Cancel (Applicable to Personal Lines/Retail customers only) – You have a legal right to cancel your policy for any reason, subject to no claims having occurred, within 14 days of receiving the full terms & conditions. You will always be advised where this Right applies. A charge will apply for the period of cover provided and, in addition, we make an administration charge as detailed above. If you wish to cancel a policy you must advise us in writing, prior to expiry of the 14-day cancellation period, to our usual office address.

Claims – We will assist you in the conduct and negotiation of claims. All incidents likely to give rise to a claim must be notified to us immediately. We will advise you of the appropriate action to be taken. In relation to liability and Motor Insurances especially, you should not admit liability and third party correspondence should be sent to us immediately, without acknowledgement.

Confidentiality and Data Protection – We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential to us and anyone else involved in the normal course of arranging, administering and operation of your insurance, even when you are no longer a customer. We will not give anyone else any personal information except on your instructions or authority, or where we are required to do so by law, or by virtue of our regulatory requirements. We may use information we hold about you to provide information to you about other products and services, which we feel may be appropriate to you. If you would prefer not to receive this information, you may email us at privacy@graham-sykes.co.uk or write, telephone or fax us at the appropriate address overleaf. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to see personal information about you that we hold in our records. If you have any queries please write to us at our usual office address. We may record telephone calls for training and quality purposes.

Payment Options – We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque or a range of credit/debit cards. You may be able to spread your payments through our instalment/credit scheme. We will give you full information about your payment options and the appropriate finance agreement when we discuss your insurance in detail.Please Note: Your policy cover will cease if you fail to keep up payments on an instalment agreement or premium finance facility related to it.

Language Used – The English language will be used for all communications, the contractual terms and conditions, and any information we are required to supply to you, before and during the duration of the contract.

Governing Law – This agreement shall be governed by the Laws of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the English and Northern Irish Courts.

Your Duty to Give Information – CONSUMERS (contract is for private use) When applying for or amending your policy we and/or your insurer will ask questions to assess the risk prior to agreeing cover. It is your duty to answer all questions honestly and reasonably. These questions are designed to obtain a full picture of the nature of the risk to be insured, and only by asking such questions and receiving answers which are given honestly and with reasonable care, can we or the insurer be in a position to offer terms which are designed to meet your demands and needs.COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS – It is important that you understand your duty to disclose all materially important information, fully, completely and accurately to us and your insurers, not only when you take out your insurance, but also throughout the term of your arrangement, at the annual renewal or at any other time when changes occur. Materially important information is any information that could influence an insurer’s decision to accept your risk, or indeed the cost of your insurance. Eg. Previous losses or claims incurred by you, criminal convictions (including personal convictions). General risk information to include construction of a building, accurate sums insured etc. If you are in doubt about how much information to provide or do not understand the question please ask. CONSQUENCES TO ALL – CONSUMERS AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS – Failure to act as described may leave you with no insurance protection, insurers may not pay a part or all of your claim, and may cancel your policy. You may find it difficult to re- arrange cover because you did not tell an insurer everything*, and you will have to disclose this fact when you reapply for insurance. (*Consumers – this applies to everything asked).

Graham Sykes Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our firms FCA number is 300310

If you are unhappy with our service, we have a complaints procedure, details of which are available on request. You may be able to refer a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if you are unhappy with how we have dealt with your complaint. The FOS website is www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk